THE PROBLEM
You have seen it…heck, you have done it! I have done it too and most likely will continue to regardless of the results. When we see a flower by whatever name, we wonder if it smells as sweet as what our memories conjure up of other flowers on other days. I say this with all due apologies to Shakespeare and his presumably then-fragrant rose (Kim et al. 2016).
Fragrance in orchids is real though, despite all our numerous disappointments. Those persistent, hopeful memories, like the madeleines that inspired Proust, recall orchids as sweetly scented as spring lilies or sometimes as pungently aromatic as a Bed Bath & Beyond! We seek them again whenever we stoop to sniff. However, for purposes of this article and as a breeder, I will define “fragrance” as a scent or aroma noticeable at a distance from the plant. By distance, I mean without having to stick your nose in it. If fragrance is to be an attractant to the consumer, it should be noticeable at a distance to attract them to find the plant in flower — much as nature intended in attracting the bee (but for other purposes).
I have now spent 40 years breeding orchids (McCully 2019). At that time, I observed that I had “made more than 4,000 crosses,” and that “fragrance is still elusive…”. Well, in 2023, I passed the 5,000 mark in submitted seed capsules, and many of those next thousand crosses were intent on incorporating fragrance within my program. I am committed to that chase — one might even say I am still hot on the scent! As a breeder with commercial interests, I want to meet that demand.
Breeding in the Oncidiinae, or any plant for that matter, always reduces to what you have to work with. If you do not have the plants in flower, you cannot hang any capsules, and if you do not have new material to work with you are left to inbreeding. There is lots of value in homogeneity, for example, line breeding through backcrosses, sib crosses and selfings. All are key tools in the breeders’ kit, but a lot of the fun is in what is new, what one has not had. Fortunately, there are some fragrant species to work with in the Oncidiinae and old and new hybrids with fragrance as well. One begins working with these known, available species and hybrids by observing the variations within their respective phenotypes and then selecting heritable trait variations as the breeding program progresses. This is the process I have been utilizing as all breeders have since the days of Mendel. It will all change as genomic (molecular) breeding progresses, but that time for orchids is still in its infancy.
[1] Oncidium Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’ AM-CCM/AOS grown by Anna S. Chai.
THE PROBLEM CHILD
Breeding is selecting from what is possible within the whole range of traits available, but not presently in the desired balance within any one plant. You will have this plant here with these qualities and that plant there with those qualities, and you work at incorporating the best of those traits while minimizing the undesirables. So, it is “yes” to persistent and penetratingly sweet smells reminiscent of vanilla and chocolate and raspberries, but “no” to black spots on the leaves! With this I bring up our Problem Child, Oncidium Sharry Baby, whose addicting fragrance is paired with persistent necrotic spots.
Back in the late 1980s, when the clone Onc. Sharry Baby ‘Sweet Fragrance’ hit the market, it was a sensation. The orders for the first clonal run went from 10,000 to 50,000 in a matter of months. It was an easy-growing plant with a beautiful presentation of multiple spikes and heavily laden panicles of intoxicatingly fragrant flowers. But there was a “but,” and the “but” was a really serious problem that proved intractable. Over the life of the plant when faced with stressors, whether environmental or just the demands of growing, the plants would become blemished by necrosis, that is, numerous leaf cells that would die and turn black. No fertilizer, fungicide or bactericide was effective in preventing or curing the issue. The plant was still vigorous, it would continue to flower and favor the room with it “scentual” charms, but it was a flawed beauty. Here was a classic example of the need to breed a solution. So off I went, trying to equal the great scent of Sharry Baby but with improved traits for both the grower and enthusiast.
First, let us understand the plant better. Oncidium Sharry Baby (Jamie Sutton × Honolulu) was registered in 1983 by D. O’Flaherty, originating at the Beall Nursery. It was the only hybrid ever registered by Dorothy O’Flaherty, but it was a great one. Dan Harvey was the Manager at Beall Orchid Company and allowed her the privilege of naming the grex after she had the first awarded plant, in 1982, an HCC/AOS of 78 points. The judges noted that the plant exhibited traits that were an “...improvement over both parents,” but oddly did not comment on fragrance. However, the clonal epithet tells the tale, Onc. Sharry Baby ʻHeavenʻs Scentʻ HCC/AOS.
[2] Oncidium leucochilum ‘Uschi’ AM/AOS grown by Helmut Rohrl.
[3] Oncidium sotoanum ‘Kristi’ AM/AOS grown by John Dunkelberger
[4] Oncidium anthocrene ‘Finca Dracula’ HCC/AOS grown by Woodstream Orchids.
[5] Oncidium altissimum ‘Kathie’ CCM/AOS grown by Joseph J. Francis. Pictures 2 through 5 are the four species that make up the background of Onc. Sharry Baby
Oncidium Sharry Baby was rewarded with 10 AOS awards, besides awards from other judging entities, and has now been used 41 times as a parent with twice that in total progeny. The plant came to my attention here in Hawaii when Neal Okimoto at Pacific Paradise Orchid flowered it and was awarded an 80-point AM/AOS for the clone ʻSweet Fragranceʻ. This followed earlier AOS awards, one of which included the description that the clone was fragrant and that this was “characteristic of the cross.” Okimoto was a contract grower for a mainland nursery that sent him young plants from the Beall Nursery to grow to flowering size. He selected the clone ‘Sweet Fragrance’ as being a superior grower with improved traits as compared to its siblings. Okimoto commented that all of the seedlings were fragrant. Every perfumer in every parfumerie in Paris would love to bottle the heady fragrance that Sharry Baby gives away so freely as the greenhouse warms up mid-morning and then lingers through the afternoon (Yeh et al. 2022) Let us break this plant down, as it is the seminal hybrid in breeding for fragrance in the Oncidiinae, both as a proof of concept of the demand by consumers as well as a cornerstone breeder for those so interested.
First, the pollen parent. Oncidium Honolulu (Moir × leucochilum) was registered by W.W.G. Moir in 1970. The eponymous Onc. Moir is (altissimum × leucochilum), so the Onc. Honolulu genotype is 75% Onc. leucochilum. As an aside, there is an intriguing Onc. Moir hybrid that was named Oncidium Fragrance (Moir × Brutus). Oncidium Brutus is a cross Oncidium fuscatum × Oncidium maculatum and, although I have never seen or smelled one, I know that Onc. maculatum has aromas of tropical fruits such as banana or honeyed pineapple. I am very familiar with Onc. fuscatum, which can have a rose or citrusy scent. Unfortunately, there are no offspring registered from Onc. Fragrance despite the promising and intriguing name. So, with no known clones extant and no progeny, there is nothing further to go on, unless one chooses to “begin at the beginning.” Because I have lost my clone of Onc. Honolulu, I would have to rebuild that side of the Onc. Fragrance equation and then remake Onc. Brutus — that is a generation shorter as a primary hybrid. It seems like a good idea; I will try to let you know in another 7–10 years what happened.
The capsule parent of Onc. Sharry Baby is Oncidium Jamie Sutton (sotoanum × anthocrene). Oncidium sotoanum was incorrectly long known as Oncidium ornithorynchum, and it is arguably the most important species in hybridizing fragrant Oncidiinae. It has certainly been prolific, with 101 first-generation offspring and approaching 300 second-generation and beyond progeny as of 2024. It is found from Mexico south to Panama (Pfahl 2024) and has the highly desirable characteristics of being densely floriferous, attractively colored a light rose pink, and has a fragrance that cries for ambergris. It was not until later, long after I had acquired Onc. Jamie Sutton and made many crosses with it, registering 11, that I even thought of how important the Onc. anthocrene may have been in Jamie Sutton’s success as a breeder.
This brings up the question: Why does Onc. Sharry Baby have noticeably improved fragrance over either parent? There is a basic genomic principle that explains how this can happen. Parents are selected for specific traits, for example, vigor, size, color of flowers and fragrance. There are controlling genes on each side of the parental equation, and, through the principle of transgressive segregation (TS), hybrid progeny can exceed the parental phenotypes. As an example, the individual parents may have contained genes for pervasive, pungent or unique aromas but the expression of those compounds may have been inhibited by the lack of necessary enzymes. Thus, they may have had genomic potential but lacked the necessary enablers, for example, proteins or enzymes. Through TS, the capacity exists in the progeny to express superior characteristics than the parents. It is like heterosis, the phenomenon whereby a filial 1 (F1) hybrid can outperform its best parent, what we sometimes call “hybrid vigor.” Fortunately, for breeders everywhere, in all genera, these improvements are heritably stable.
SOLVING THE PROBLEM
The makeup of the Oncidiinae once amounted to 87 genera and 1,200–1,300 species (Baker and Baker 2006). After reclassification based on a molecular approach the Alliance now consists of 65 genera and approximately 1,000 species (Chase 2008, 2015). Of these, the most important genus for my purposes of hybridizing is the genus Oncidium, with approximately 305 species. The following have been available and important in the breeding for fragrance in the Alliance.
Note: these are by no means the only fragrant species with the genus Oncidium, and certainly not within the much more diverse Oncidiinae. I have listed them as important in the genetic makeup of some of the more fragrant hybrids I have made or am familiar with.
Oncidium species first-generation offspring (OrchidPro 6-2024)/Total Progeny (Orchidwiz 2022)
harryanum 221/8022 (!!!)
fuscatum 133/909
maculatum 107/385
leucochilum 106/827
sotoanum 101/369
schroederianum 56/213
hastilabium 53/82
incurvum 51/265
anthrocrene 11/231
cariniferum 26/440
cheirophorum 26/94
These species all have unique traits that are important to understand as they are incorporated into a breeding program. They each bring different-sized plants, type and length of inflorescence, flower count, seasonality, vigor, etc.
Because we are interested primarily in fragrance I will now focus on just one, Onc. sotoanum. Its size, shape, and inflorescence are not why it is brought to the breeder’s bench. Although its color, a soft rosy pink, is highly desirable, it is the fragrance that brings it to the bench, and then it is off the charts! It has been praised (and criticized!) for a pervasive sweetness — some find it even syrupy. It has a musky, nutty quality that might be the base and, thus, helps explain the chocolate notes in some of its progeny such as Onc. Sharry Baby.
Additional species important in the development of fragrance in the Oncidium Alliance
[6] Oncidium harryanum ‘Harry’s Vision’ HCC/AOS grown by New Vision Orchids.
[7] Oncidium fuscatum
[8] Oncidium maculatum ‘Thanks Rolf’ AM/ AOS grown by John Dunkelberger
[9] Oncidium schroederianum ‘Jorge Brenes’ AM/AOS grown by Jorge Brenes.
[10] Oncidium hastilabium ‘Dark Angel’ CBR/AOS grown by J&L Orchids.
[11] Oncidium incurvum
[12] Oncidium cariniferum
[13] Oncidium cheirophorum ‘Memorial Richard Waugh’ CCM/AOS grown by Tom Waugh.
Oncidium sotoanum has been registered for at least 48 primary hybrids, meaning crossed with another species. This is important to know when evaluating the inheritance of genetic traits, because it can be assumed that a primary hybrid (between two species of the same or a different genus) is most commonly made with naturally occurring diploid parents. The reason this is important is that there is research in other genera of orchids (Yeh et al. 2021) on this subject. It has been established that when seed and pollen parents are both fragrant that fragrance expression can be up to 100%. However, when only a single parent is fragrant, then the likelihood of fragrance expression drops to less than 57%. Given that information and the experience of working with fragrant species that do not always pass on the trait of fragrance, it is helpful to review what has been done in the Oncidiinae. The most utilized primary hybrids from sotoanum include
× hyphaematicum = John Louis Shirah 22 F1 offspring
× cheirophorum = Twinkle 26 F1 offspring
× anthocrene = Jamie Sutton 11 F1 offspring
× fuscatum = Ruffles 6 F1 offspring
All these parent species are fragrant to a greater or lesser extent. In the hybrids, the Oncidium John Louis Shirah that I have collected in the past are not fragrant. (I repeat, for purposes of this article, I refer to fragrance as being noticeable at some distance from the plant proper.) The Twinkles and the Jamie Suttons are fragrant, as are the Ruffles. I remember a cross of Oncidium Burgundy (sotoanum × leucochilum), which was surprisingly not fragrant, and I do not recall Oncostele Elske Stolze (sotoanum × Rhynchostele bictoniense) being fragrant either. So, in my experience, I would say that Oncidium species are not anywhere near 100% transmissible for fragrance traits at the primary hybrid level. I will not pretend to know enough about genetics to state categorically that fragrance is recessive in Oncidium species, but again, from experience, I can state that it is at best an unreliable trait even in primary hybrids.
In the following complex hybrids (that is, beyond primary), the lack of fragrance as a dominant trait is even more noticeable. This could be affected by imbalanced sets of chromosomes (e.g., 28, 32, etc.) and/or higher ploidy in one of the parents (e.g., 3n, 4n, etc.) Of the top 10 parents when bred with sotoanum, only four are known to me to be reliably fragrant: Twinkle, Jamie Sutton, Ruffles and Oncidium Pacific Sunrise. I am familiar with only three of the others, John Louis Shirah, Cyrtocidium Intermezzo and Oncidumnia Kutoo, and do not recall fragrance in them.
Oncidium Debutante (Iwanaga 1960) is (fuscatum × cariniferum), and I used it extensively as did many others. There are 54 first-generation hybrids and more than 350 total progenies, so it has been influential for breeding in the alliance. However, the clones I worked with were not fragrant. It is one of those hybrids that led me to conclude early in my career that fragrance, which this cross has on both sides, is not necessarily a dominant characteristic.
Oncidium Ruffles (Moir 1960) was the primary hybrid of (sotoanum × fuscatum) and was later remade by me using the clones Onc. fuscatum ‘Weltonii’ and Onc. sotoanum ‘Sellon’ AM/AOS. The parent plants came from two of my orchid mentors, Milton Warne and Ron Sellon. Miltonʻs brother, Robert Warne, originally acquired the clone Onc. fuscatum ʻWeltoniiʻ in England in the 1930s. It was my most highly prized breeding plant, alas it disappeared from my bench over time. Ron Sellon was a great source for various Oncidiinae in the 1980s and was an active hybridizer. The Ruffles I remade was a floriferous, free-flowering, fragrant grex and notably had light-toned, bright colors as opposed to many fuscatum hybrids that have duller, more earth-toned results. Ruffles provided a fragrance base for Oncidium Heaven Scent, Oncidium Redolent, Oncidium Aunties Purfume, Oncidium Scentsasion, Oncidium Pagans Scent, and Oncidium Parfumerie. Notice a common element? All the grex names connote fragrance. Although fragrance may not always be a dominant trait, it is certainly a heritable one.
Oncidium Jimbo is (fuscatum × Kilauea) hybrid, made by McCully in 2001, was used extensively for compact and floriferous progeny. Its mild fragrance was primarily from fuscatum (citrus, tea, rose) and Onc. incurvum (soap, white flowers). It was used as a parent for ten registered hybrids and has a total of 26 progeny. It was a parent to Oncidium Pacific Pagan, the parent of Oncidium Pagans Scent (× Heaven Scent), as well as Oncidium AKA Baby (Jimbo × Sharry Baby).
Oncidium Pacific Pagan (Debutante × Jimbo) (McCully 2004) has primary fuscatum hybrids on both sides along with the fragrant cariniferum, which has always reminded me of vanilla. Do not sleep on the influence of cariniferum. The pollen parent brings in Onc. cariniferum through Onc. Debutante, and its aromaticity may have lain dormant in that parent, but perhaps was now able to be expressed.
Oncidium Heaven Scent (Ruffles × Sharry Baby) (McCully 2010) had a lighter fragrance than Sharry Baby but more than the Ruffles. It was an upright, branched panicle, unlike the Onc. Ruffles capsule parent. Its foliage did not show necrosis. Color was light reddish-purple hues, away from the darker Sharry Baby; however, the most popular clone ‘Redolence’ shows more mahogany. It had aromas of chocolate but with citrus with a sharper fragrance than its pollen parent. It was a successful pot plant as a substitute to Onc. Sharry Baby for being fragrant with no necrosis and easier to pack/ship due to its smaller stature. It is still available in the trade from time to time.
Oncidium Pagans Scent (Heavens Scent × Pacific Pagan) (McCully 2012) increased the sotoanum to 25% and brought in leucochilum and anthocrene. The grex showed a characteristic fragrance throughout the seedling population, very compact, fully flowered panicles with contrasting colors, and a sweet scent of tea, honey and vanilla. The clone ‘Hanna’ is a vigorous, free-flowering plant that is successful in the trade. You may see it on the shelves, hopefully with a plant tag in the pot.
The little-known grex Onc. Parfumerie (Heaven Scent × Sublime) (McCully 2012) was unfortunately sterile as, alas, I tried many times. This was composed of sotoanum, fuscatum, harryanum, anthocrene, and leucochilum. It sported Oncidium Jamie Sutton (sotoanum × anthocrene) on both sides of its parentage. It had a full, heady fragrance that was in the “Bed, Bath, and Beyond” school of scents. The vigor and fertility genes were excluded, so the serendipitous fragrance is now only legend, the plants have all disappeared.
Oncidium Aka Baby ‘Raspberry Chocolate’ HCC/AOS is arguably the most similar to, as well as the best improvement upon, Onc. Sharry Baby. It is (Jimbo × Sharry Baby) (Buckman 2008) and is the combination of three lines of fragrant oncidium breeding; Jimbo, Jamie Sutton and Honolulu. Buckman, in interviews, stated that he used a unique clone of Onc. Sharry Baby, ‘Yellow’, that he acquired from Japan. It was a somaclonal mutation that appeared stable. Buckman purchased a mericlone flask from the nursery, and it was notable for being necrosis-free, fragrant, compact and with flowers underlaid with yellow. Lower flower count was its primary fault. Buckman also made the same cross with three other clones of Sharry Baby, the offspring were notably poorer. Buckman then selected the awarded plant from the cross made with ʻYellow’ and also selected another seedling that he named ‘Vanilla Cream’, which showed yellow in its underlayment of the tepals (sepals and petals), overall lighter color and with only slightly less fragrance. Aka Baby is phenotypically dominated by the combination of fuscatum and leucochilum, but genotypically it also has an equal measure of sotoanum and anthocrene. A dollop of incurvum (6.3%) and a smidge (3%) of cariniferum add to its fragrance lineage. That is six fragrant species, so perhaps a shotgun effect is the best for hitting the mark?
[14] Oncidium Heaven Scent ‘Sweet Baby’ CCM/AOS grown by Teresa O’Neil.
[15] Oncidium Pagan Scent ‘Hanna’
[16] Oncidium Aka Baby
[17] Oncidium Ron’s Rippling Delight ‘Coos Bay’ HCC/AOS grown by Jerry and Carol Baughman
Another approach to fragrance is to choose away from the upright, branched inflorescence (a panicle) and toward an arching spike (a raceme) that may have only a few or incipient branching. This avenue would rely predominately on the fragrant species Onc. schroederianum, Onc. harryanum (aka wyattianum) and Onc. sotoanum. The less well-known Onc. anthocrene (formerly a Cyrtochilum) displays a raceme. The cornerstone hybrids for my breeding approach were Onc. Jamie Sutton and Oncidium Ron’s Rippling Delight (fuscatum × schroederianum).
Oncidium Burgundian (schroederianum × Harry Sutton) was named to celebrate another interest of mine…wine. The scent given off from this grex reminded me of a complex red burgundy, say from Vosne Romanee. A heady mix of Asian spices, clove and cinnamon, characteristic of the finest of these wines. The fragrance also had an underlying base of chocolate and citrus, no doubt from the Onc. Jamie Sutton. When I named the Oncidium Harry Sutton (Jamie Sutton × harryanum), there was some controversy about whether it should have been identified as Oncidium (aka Odontoglossum) wyattianum rather than Oncidium (aka Odontoglossum) harryanum. I went with what was on the label; however, I always remember being told that one of the distinctions between the two species was that wyattianum was noticeably fragrant, more so than harryanum. This frequently has multiple spikes from the Onc. schroederianum, with firm, arching racemes rather than the panicle form of an inflorescence I normally breed toward. I prefer flowers up above the foliage, and this type of breeding usually starts flowering at the height of the pseudobulb itself. This is not a major fault; in fact there have been AOS awards on some of the clones I selected. The vividly wine-colored tepals and the deep-purple, velvet lip connote both the name and the experience of a fine burgundy.
Oncidium Red Wasp (leuchochilum × Harry Sutton) has an intoxicating scent of sweet mead with a cinnamon stick or a honeyed, spiced citrus depending on the time of day. A brief aside: my selection of this cross was doomed to languish on my “old stock” bench but for the insistence of Sam Cowie of Leaf and Limb Nursery in Queensland, Australia. He banged the drum hard for this plant to remain in production and so it has. Good on ya, mate! It is a double spiker with a persistent fragrance that more than makes up for any perceived defects. I judge my material pretty hard; flower count and arrangement, general form, color (not just types of color but hue, brightness, saturation, reflection, absorption, etc.), longevity and a host of other traits all need to be taken into account, but sometimes one big thing makes up for a myriad of minor faults. Here this is an example.
[18] Oncidium (PuaKana × Tomcat)
THE PROBLEM’S SOLUTIONS?
Some recent hybrids I have made that are too soon to determine how they will perform or contribute in the fragrance breeding program for the pot plant trade but are encouraging include:
Oncostele PuaKana (Onc. Senor Cusi × Firecat). Oncidium Senor Cusi is (schroederianum × Sandrinho). Oncidium Sandrinho is (schroederianum × incurvum). My friend Sandro Cusi lives and collects orchids in Mexico and was my source for the material that led me down the path less taken in fragrant Oncidiinae, one that has been based on Onc. schroederieanum. I named Onc. Senor Cusi in his honor.
Oncostele PuaKana brings a persistent grape-jam fragrance with long-lasting, midsize flowers and heavy texture. Early days suggest it will be a significant breeder. My memory of a delightful evening with the Cusis and my wife on their terrace overlooking the Valle de Bravo as hummingbirds visited us at twilight persists to this day as if it were just last night. It is one of my life’s madeleines.
Oncidium Witch’s Fire (Witchʻs Jewels × Two Alarm Fire) has fuscatum, harryanum and schroederianum on the capsule parent side and leucochilum, fuscatum, Oncidium hastatum, and schroederianum on the pollen parent side. As a large flower with the lip colored a deep blood-red with the tepals maroonish black, it has a distinctly sweet fragrance from Onc. schroederianum. This is an important species in any Oncidiinae breeding program for fragrance, and it is the predominant source of fragrance for Onc. Ronʻs Rippling Delight. The hybrid Witch’s Fire is effectively a line-bred Ron’s Rippling Delight in that I selected for further breeding the phenotypic qualities of the Ron’s Rippling Delights’s desirable traits — a compact spike, multispikes per bulb, large flowers, vigorous grower, and, yes, fragrant! The “Fire” in Witch’s Fire is a result of Oncidium Fireflower ‘Burgundy’ (Carmine × Lippestern), a grandparent of Onc. Two Alarm Fire. I selected to keep the carmine-red color over the generations. How will the market respond? We shall see!
Oncostelopsis Go For Broke (Oncidopsis Francine × Oncostele PuaKana) is just now flowering for the first time and showing a wide array of characteristics. One selection, dominated by Oip. Francine genes, is superior in its bright cherry-red color and twice the size of either parent, perhaps even larger than Oncidopsis Nelly Isler. Another seedling hews to the Ons. PuaKana and is a dense bicolor with spicy sweetness. This cross shows great heterogeneity and I have a couple hundred more to flower — fingers crossed.
Oncostele Dusky Birds (PuaKana × Aka Baby) (McCully 2019): this seedling sports a windmill inflorescence reminiscent of Onc. Issaku Nagata. It has a huge Christmas-tree–shaped spike, densely flowered with vividly contrasting flowers that sport a whiff of candied fruits and eucalyptus honey.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not at least mention the promise held by including Miltoniopsis in an Oncidiinae intergeneric breeding program for fragrance. I consider this the most promising element in my breeding program toward the next level of pot-plant cultivars for the market, for both consumers and connoisseurs. Its potential is hinted at in the previous referenced seedling, Oncostelopsis Go For Broke. It deserves its own article.
For me, these are still early days in this line of breeding. Hopefully, I will have the time and the luck to finish the problem of fragrance in the Oncidiinae. As it is, please, savor your madeleines!
References
Baker, M. and C. Baker. 2006. Orchid Species Culture: Oncidium/Odontoglossum Alliance. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon.
Chase, M., K. Cameron, J. Freudenstein, A. Pridgeon, G. Salazar, C. van den Berg and A. Schuiteman. 2015. An Updated Classification of Orchidaceae. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 177(2):151–174.
Chase, M., N. Williams, K. Neubig and W. Whitten. 2008. Taxonomic Transfers in Oncidiinae to Accord with Genera Orchidacearum, Volume 5. Orchids 77:20–31.
Kim S.M., S. Park, J.W. Wong, E.J. Jang and C.H. Pak. 2016. Psychophysiological Effects of Orchid and Rose Fragrances on Humans. Horticultural Science and Technology. 30 June 2016:472–487.
McCully, J. 2019. Reflections of a Hybridizer. Supplement to Orchids: The Oncidium Alliance. 21–27.
Pfahl, J. Internet Orchid Species Encyclopedia. orchidspecies.com. Accessed April 2024.
Yeh, W.-C., C.-Y. Hung and L.-H. Du. 2021. Breeding of Fragrant Phalaenopsis. WenHuei Chen and Hong-Hwa Chen, editors. Orchid Biotechnology IV. World Scientific, Singapore. p. 43–61.
Yeh, C.-W., H.-Q. Zhong, Y.-F. Ho, Z.-H. Tian and K.-W. Yeh. 2022. The Diurnal Emission of Floral Scent in Oncidium Hybrid Orchid is Controlled by Circadian Clock Associated 1 (Cca1) Through the Direct Regulation on terpene synthase. BMC Plant Biology 22:472. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-022-03850-z (uses Onc. Sharry Baby as test subject to determine release of floral scents).
— James McCully, Mauna Kea Orchids, has been growing and breeding orchids since 1983. His exclusive focus since 1994 has been with the Oncidiinae. His own definitions for improvement in his breeding lines are toward meeting the demands of the consumer market. His current distributors include Floricultura in Europe, Flor y Flor and Magna Flora in Brazil, Leaf and Limb in the Down Under, Matsui Nursery in the USA and Hilo Orchid Farm and all his friends in Hawaii. He appreciates that his wife Fran has had a lifelong tolerance for his endeavors, his passions and his distractions. He hopes Oip. Francine turns out to be a fitting tribute to her. It is a lovely thing.
